On our trip to Maui last year, one of the things that we were searching for was the famous black sand beaches of Hawaii. So, we drove the road to Hana and saw this beautiful beach on the side of the road.
From a distance, the sand definitely looks black. But close up, the sand is multicoloured, with quartz, amphibole, olivine, and likely some garnet along with the ubiquitous basalt.
So we continued along the road to Hana.
Right before you enter the town of Hana, there’s another beach, complete with arches and columns out in the water created by the constant erosion of the waves. This beach also looked like a black sand beach.
And this time, we were correct. As far as the eye could see, the only rock on this beach was basalt.
